Bill Text: CA AB1407 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Liability: social hosts: alcoholic beverages.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)

Status: (Passed) 2011-10-02 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 410, Statutes of 2011. [AB1407 Detail]

Download: California-2011-AB1407-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 1407	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 27, 2011
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 31, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Committee on Judiciary (Feuer (Chair), Atkins,
Dickinson, Huber, Huffman, Monning, and Wieckowski)

                        MARCH 7, 2011

    An act to amend Section 51.7 of the Civil Code, and to
repeal Section 1 of Chapter 1293 of the Statutes of 1976, relating to
civil rights.   An act to amend Section 1714 of the
Civil Code, relating to liability. 


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1407, as amended, Committee on Judiciary.  Civil
rights.   Liability: social hosts: alcoholic beverages.
 
   Existing law generally prohibits a social host who furnishes
alcoholic beverages to any person from being held legally accountable
for damages suffered by that person, or for injury to the person or
property of, or death of, any 3rd person, resulting from the
consumption of those beverages. Existing law excepts from this
prohibition claims against a parent, guardian, or another adult who
knowingly furnishes alcoholic beverages at his or her residence to a
person under 21 years of age and that furnishing the alcoholic
beverages may be found to be the proximate cause of resulting
injuries or death.  
   This bill would revise the exception described above to permit a
claim against a parent, guardian, or another adult for furnishing
alcoholic beverages to a person whom he or she knows, or should have
known, to be under 21 years of age and that furnishing the alcoholic
beverages may be found to be the proximate cause of resulting
injuries or death. The bill would permit a claim pursuant to there
provisions to be brought by, or on behalf of, the person under 21
years of age or by a person who was harmed by the person under 21
years of age.  
   The Ralph Civil Rights Act of 1976 provides, in part, that all
persons within the jurisdiction of this state have the right to be
free from any violence, or intimidation by threat of violence, on
account of their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national
origin, disability, medical condition, marital status, or sexual
orientation.  
   This bill would repeal the provision entitling the act the Ralph
Civil Rights Act of 1976, and would instead state the findings of the
Legislature that the above-described provision was enacted as part
of the Ralph Civil Rights Act of 1976. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    Section 1714 of the   Civil
Code   is amended to read: 
   1714.  (a) Everyone is responsible, not only for the result of his
or her willful acts, but also for an injury occasioned to another by
his or her want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his
or her property or person, except so far as the latter has, willfully
or by want of ordinary care, brought the injury upon himself or
herself. The design, distribution, or marketing of firearms and
ammunition is not exempt from the duty to use ordinary care and skill
that is required by this section. The extent of liability in these
cases is defined by the Title on Compensatory Relief.
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to abrogate the holdings
in cases such as Vesely v. Sager (1971) 5 Cal.3d 153, Bernhard v.
Harrah's Club (1976) 16 Cal.3d 313, and Coulter v. Superior Court
(1978) 21 Cal.3d 144 and to reinstate the prior judicial
interpretation of this section as it relates to proximate cause for
injuries incurred as a result of furnishing alcoholic beverages to an
intoxicated person, namely that the furnishing of alcoholic
beverages is not the proximate cause of injuries resulting from
intoxication, but rather the consumption of alcoholic beverages is
the proximate cause of injuries inflicted upon another by an
intoxicated person.
   (c) Except as provided in subdivision (d), no social host who
furnishes alcoholic beverages to any person may be held legally
accountable for damages suffered by that person, or for injury to the
person or property of, or death of, any third person, resulting from
the consumption of those beverages.
   (d)  (1)    Nothing in subdivision (c) shall
preclude a claim against a parent, guardian, or another adult who
knowingly furnishes alcoholic beverages at his or her residence to a
person  whom he or she knows, or should have known, to be 
under 21 years of age, in which case, notwithstanding subdivision
(b), the furnishing of the alcoholic beverage may be found to be the
proximate cause of resulting injuries or death. 
   (2) A claim under this subdivision may be brought by, or on behalf
of, the person under 21 years of age or by a person who was harmed
by the person under 21 years of age.  
  SECTION 1.    Section 51.7 of the Civil Code is
amended to read:
   51.7.  (a) All persons within the jurisdiction of this state have
the right to be free from any violence, or intimidation by threat of
violence, committed against their persons or property because of
political affiliation, or on account of any characteristic listed or
defined in subdivision (b) or (e) of Section 51, or position in a
labor dispute, or because another person perceives them to have one
or more of those characteristics. The identification in this
subdivision of particular bases of discrimination is illustrative
rather than restrictive.
   (b) This section does not apply to statements concerning positions
in a labor dispute which are made during otherwise lawful labor
picketing.
   (c) The Legislature finds and declares that this section was
enacted as part of the Ralph Civil Rights Act of 1976, in Chapter
1293 of the Statutes of 1976.  
  SEC. 2.    Section 1 of Chapter 1293 of the
Statutes of 1976 is repealed.